Report from Raz Mason:
I have been a member of Oregon Women for Agriculture (OWA) for several years. My association with OWA over the last several years has profoundly influenced my understanding of and advocacy for ag producers. I also served on OWA’s legislative committee for a year.
At the Columbia Gorge OWA chapter meeting on Monday, March 14, I introduced myself and listened to agricultural producers’ comments and concerns about a variety of issues, especially possible impacts to ag producers from the recent Oregon House Bill 4002, water issues, expense of irrigation generally, possible problems with irrigation access in the current version of the proposed Mt. Hood wilderness area expansion, and why farm stays are more trouble than they’re worth to farmers – but special 3-day events to build city-dwellers’ understanding of agriculture, as detailed in this book, and farm tours would work.
Here are some of my thoughts on HB 4002, about farm worker overtime:
Overtime pay is fair, as is protection for outdoor workers as climate change worsens. However, ag producers also need to be taken into consideration. I recommend:
- A fund to initially a) assist small-scale ag producers as they adapt to these new mandates and b) to educate the public about justice-related reasons for possibly higher food prices.
- Revisit the change yearly for the first several years to assess impacts and address any unforeseen consequences – to both agricultural workers and ag producers/owners.
What range of profit margins are farmers and orchardists currently working under, and how does this vary by scale? Are producers in a position to pay for these wage increases from profits and/or without a drop in consumption when prices are increased?
What risks does larger society face if higher production costs prompt smaller-scale producers to sell their land – either driving centralization of agricultural lands into agri-business ownership and/or driving producers to sell their land for development – being thus lost to public benefit forever (and impacting not just the selling farm families, but our food security)?
How might we lessen these risks without further harming agricultural workers, who already bear the brunt of historical injustices and the present/worsening burdens of climate change?
I have found it useful to look for unintended consequences in any political decision. For instance, I have been told by orchardists one likely outcome of this new law is that they will offer only 40 hours of work/week, reducing the income farm workers can earn.
State Representative Anna Williams, a Democrat (serving Dist. 52, part of the senate district for which I am running) has put it this way: Farms need both farmers and farm workers. Without both, there are no farms. Anna, a Democrat, bravely advocated in Salem for both farm workers and ag producers. I seek to follow in her footsteps.